Cole Kingdom, Windsor Town.
When Duke Albert wants to live, Abdia can accurately and accurately find someone to get the best available accommodation in the area immediately.
Even under "difficult" conditions, the Duke's butler can arrange everything for his master - this is the reason why the picky Duke Albert still regards Abdia as a confidant.
Nothing else.
The decoration of the villa in the mountains is simple, with only thick cushions on the wooden floor, and there are still traces of paintings hanging on the walls. It is obviously a temporary residence.
Duke Albert sat in front of the mahogany table and chairs that had been cleaned until they were smooth and translucent. He glanced with satisfaction at the wine bottles on the table and the wine in the decanter that was so translucent that it could be hung on the wall.
He nodded to the maid next to him, indicating that she could exit. Then he picked up the silver wine glass on the table and took a sip.
"It's not bad." Albert raised his neck comfortably, "Gallora, I didn't expect you to bring back such a good thing!"
After drinking, he poured some into the wine jug - it was a rather conspicuous wine jug, probably one of the luggage taken out from under the Duke's carriage.
Neil was sitting on the other side of the table. He was relieved when he heard Albert complimenting the wine. Then he saw the pot next to him and couldn't help but ask:
"That wine bottle..."
The shape of the wine bottle is special and asymmetrical. The main part is streamlined. The neck part has a translucent frosted texture. The slightly arcing outer surface is also painted with strange patterns.
The body of the pot is probably made of a silver-gray metal, but the sleeker appearance is decorated with countless tiny silver pieces. It's like finding a treasure and adding it all at once.
At first glance, the combination certainly looks noble and gorgeous. If you look closely, you will see that the trivial flaky objects are like animal scales, attached extremely densely, making it difficult to start.
The spout of the hip flask is also inlaid with two beautiful silver emblems on both sides, with symmetrical raised white leaves carved on the emblems.
All in all, such a cumbersome portable wine bottle is more like an ornament with unclear meaning than its practical significance.
"Do you recognize it?" Albert smiled, "I forgot that you are well-informed and should have seen this kind of treasure. This is called the 'Forest Pot', produced in the northern hills of the Arcane Forest."
The Duke was in a good mood and well dressed. Sitting in a comfortable and elegant environment, he looked like a serious gentleman.
Relying on instinct, Neil told the pretentious Duke in his mind that there were only plains in the north of the Arcane Forest, and hills and mountains in the west. There was also an extensive Demonic Dragon Valley inside.
But of course he wouldn't say it.
Speaking of which, the shape of the strange pot seems to be the body shape of some kind of silver creature, but in order to meet the requirements of practicality and complex decoration, various weird structures were finally added.
——In the end, it became four different things.
However, Duke Albert always carries some weird things and tells some wrong allusions from hearsay. Neil has long been used to this and has no intention of correcting him on his own initiative.
Even if the memory of the Duke's extraordinary performance is correct, most of those allusions came from investors who realized that Duke Albert was stupid and rich, and his ability to make up stories may not be comparable to anyone else.
Because there are no boundaries and no need for logic.
Neil knew clearly that if he had to make the Duke realize his mistake, it would be better to tie the rope around his neck first, so that the Duke would be furious and order him to be hanged.
Naturally, he wasn’t looking for trouble this time. He also had his own purpose and asked:
"Regarding the Forgotten Valley proposed by Morgan Grande... Your Highness, it's been a while, do you have any clues here?"
Albert chuckled, feeling pleased with his tentative tone.
"My butler brought me information. Do you know that there is a market called 'Pandora' at the foot of this mountain in the Port of Saint-Lun?"
Neil nodded, once again ignoring the fact that the Duke confused Port Saint-Ron with Pandora Market, even though they could only be regarded as close neighbors, and there was no internal or external relationship at all.
Sometimes he wondered whether he should kindly remind the Duke to take notes on everything. But he was afraid that this behavior would multiply Duke Albert's ability to solve problems and affect the plan.
However, with the Duke's arrogance that no one dares to interfere, there is no need to worry even if he says it out loud.
"All magic materials will pass through there, and the chamber of commerce there is also the best source of communication information - of course, only locally."
Duke Albert even gave up in the middle and took another sip of wine, seemingly intoxicated by the fine wine that Neil had asked for at short notice.
"My intelligence source is quite reliable. They said that a businessman named Grande has been traveling frequently recently and bought a lot of materials in total."
"Same as the businessman's statement?"
Albert confirmed this, but suddenly felt unhappy when he remembered something, and waved his hand.
"I also got news that there was indeed a wealthy local businessman behind Reynolds. According to those people, Grande often went to Reynolds' stores to stay for a while - even if the business of the stores that Reynolds mainly operated was not here. "
Mogan stated that his current situation is to purchase magic materials in order to experiment and discover the true magic properties of the land. But the purpose of going to Reynolds' shops empty-handed is naturally different.
All clues point to the Grande businessman preparing to seek cooperation from the Reynolds family, and even Duke Albert can see this.
But he couldn't keep his face down.
"It's just a small rich man in a remote area. How much money can he have?" When talking about this topic, Albert was also a little annoyed. "That Grande talks more than he does, and has no vision at all."
Mainly because so far, except for meeting at Robbie's store and showing interest, Grande has not done anything extra at all.
This is completely different from Albert's expectation and his usual experience of being popular.
The Duke maintained his superior status and was naturally a little dissatisfied with the mere businessman asking him to leave a message for inquiries, and even scorned it.
And now he couldn't sit still.
Because a day has passed, and judging by the way this continues, Grande's cooperation with the Reynolds family seems to be progressing steadily.
If other capital intervenes, even if funds are forcibly invested later, it means that the Duke will not be able to obtain the real estate described in Grande's narrative and have no room to directly control its use.
The Duke has always been the one to choose partners, and he has never felt displeased by being "in both directions" - even if I think about it now, Grande's words left plenty of room for him.
After all, Mo Gan made it very clear that he just "encountered" by chance and told the news he learned on a whim.
Everything is a generous gift. As for whether to cooperate in the future, he also left open the possibility.
The message board of Town Flower House.
It can be said that Morgan has done everything in preparation, but the fact that the Duke cannot take the initiative to leave a message seems to have caught up.
In the end, Albert realized that he was going to miss the opportunity, and he felt a sense of crisis in his complacency.
The secret of the Lost Valley is like a treasure tailor-made for Duke Albert, waiting to be excavated more carefully. There is no upper limit to imagination.
"I also asked the maid to find the groom who is stationed on the only route and inquire about it." Albert emphasized, "They said that a tall man with golden pupils did appear in the past half month."
Although Mogan was a little troubled by this due to concealment considerations, his appearance was quite conspicuous. The golden eyes inherited from his mother are very rare, and his height is also unusual.
It is really difficult for a person to stand in a crowd without being noticed.
But this reassured the Duke. Because Mo Gan appeared frequently within half a month, it proved that he may not be a liar who pretended to be deceived, but actually lived in the local area.
"So what do you think, Your Highness the Duke?"
Neil pushed the topic forward, and at the same time he watched Duke Albert being proud of his abundant intelligence sources, and being annoyed that the other party did not take the initiative to contact him and ask for financial assistance.
Albert took another sip of wine.
"When Abdia comes back later, I will ask her to go directly to the local inspector and ask where this Mogan Grande lives."
He still couldn't let go of his useless pride.
However, if you want to use the power of the inspector, it means completely putting the duke's identity on paper as a bargaining chip, and not purely relying on the gold coin reserves like a nouveau riche to win people's hearts.
Not only the intelligence source is involved, but also another force representing the kingdom...
Just as Neil was thinking seriously, the Duke regained his confidence, "No matter what he has in mind, as long as he knows the place rented by Grande with enough money, there will be no problem in finding him."
Neil almost choked out of thin air.
Bribing the inspector, luckily he could think of it.
It was obviously easy for the Duke to obtain the information collected by the Inspector. Your status in the Cole Kingdom is there, you just need to prove it.
But Duke Albert didn't know anything about this kind of thing. It was probably Abdia's fault again, maybe it was the housekeeper who did it for him every time.
At the same time, there was a slight knock at the outer door.
"Come in!"
After asking for instructions, Abdia walked in slowly, his eyes quickly swept over Neil, and then quickly settled on the Duke.
The Duke was just about to give instructions, perhaps repeating the idea he had just proposed and give Abidiya the task, when he saw Abidiya, who was wearing a butler's uniform, raising his hand and making a pointing gesture.
This should be an important issue, and probably shouldn't have anyone waiting around to listen.
Such as Neil.
Although he was unable to recognize the facts clearly, Albert could probably understand in his heart that he now relied entirely on Abdia's free play and could not ignore her request, so he waved Neil out.
"About the surname Grande..."
This was the moment Neil closed the door and heard the woman reporting the situation from inside. Naturally, it came from Abdia who had just returned.
——Although he relies on himself as a bard, he actually received the education of a warrior since he was a child. It is not an exaggeration to call him a ranger, and his senses are also considered excellent.
As the door was closed, Neil's heart moved. I accidentally discovered such a change, and I don’t know what Abdia got.
Did you discover Grande’s secret?
At least there must be an ulterior motive for hiding it from yourself.
But he still got the information he wanted. At least he could confirm that the Duke who had obtained the information had reached this point...
With this in mind, Neil walked out of the Duke's temporary residence and went directly to the house where Morgan lived in a corner of Windsor Town.
